Small Business Owners Need Tax Reform Now

Today, I have the privilege of representing the hard working small business owners in this country by testifying before the Tax Policy Subcommittee about how tax reform will help America’s small businesses and will provide for lasting economic growth. Congress has a unique opportunity to pass meaningful tax reform legislation this year and I hope that my testimony can help them to craft a modernized tax code that works for small businesses, rather than the current code that hinders growth.

Almost 30 years ago, my mother and I started Neutral Posture in my garage with nothing but hard work and determination, and now our business has blossomed into a successful company. While we encountered many challenges along the way, the most persistent and burdensome has been dealing with our antiquated, overly-complicated tax code.

After just two years, our small business was confronted with a tax bill of $86,000 because we did not know how we were supposed to navigate our mess of a tax code and were not counting our inventory as a deductible expense. Luckily, we managed to survive and we learned the lesson that we must dedicate a great deal of money and time to our taxes or else our business could encounter significant problems.

Unfortunately, far too many small business owners have faced similar challenges due to our tax code and a few have been put out of business because of it. Those of us who have ventured out to start our own companies take pride in the goods and services we provide, and we believe that the small business owners in this country provide the best and most innovative products available. At Neutral Posture, our chairs have been proven to reduce injuries and to reduce workers’ compensation costs, and I believe we make the best chair on the market.

Small business owners in this country deserve a pro-growth, modern tax code that allows them to expand and hire more employees. We are currently saddled with a code that takes a team of accountants to figure out and that charges rates as high as 40 percent. This is simply unacceptable.

This does not even take into account things like the estate tax and corporate loopholes that compound the many issues with our code. It is a system where some can be double taxed after someone passes away, while others do not have to pay their fair share only because they have an army of accountants finding ways out of paying what they owe. These things need to be addressed and the time is now.

In my testimony, I will ask that Congress gets to work on a complete overhaul of our tax code that simplifies the process, lowers rates for all businesses, and fixes the other issues like loopholes and the estate tax. I will also tell them that small businesses across the country need comprehensive tax reform as soon as possible and that there are no excuses for inaction. The business community in this country will not continue to support Representatives who cannot pass legislation to fix our tax code.